AUBURN, Alabama -- Installing a new scheme always takes a little time to take hold.

Offense or defense, most coordinators say a defense usually starts to take big steps in its second year in a system, and Auburn's defense faced the added challenge of playing for its third coordinator in as many seasons with Ellis Johnson taking over this year.

Halfway through the season, though, Johnson is starting to see Auburn's defenders settle into the scheme, allowing the Tigers defensive coaches to insert a few more wrinkles into the game plan.

"We're able to put in wrinkles each week for game planning. They're a lot more familiar with the way the whole thing -- the flexibility of it," Johnson said. "We've got some guys who understand the scheme well enough now where we could move them over to another position and give them three days of practice and they'd be ready to go."

With that kind of flexibility, Johnson can add more variety to the game plan.

Auburn (6-1, 3-1 SEC) struggled with some of the wrinkles Johnson installed for opponents earlier this season, most notably the five-man front that flopped against LSU.

In the first half of the season, the Tigers largely relied on their base schemes.

"We've sort of also settled into who we are and what we are," Johnson said. "A lot of stuff we worked on through the spring and the early part of the season, we really haven't run much of it because we're starting to find our personnel and what they do best."

For example, Johnson's scheme is normally zone-heavy in the secondary, but he's adjusted, playing more man-to-man to take advantage of the Tigers' ability to press.

And even though the Star was trumpeted as a spot that offered a lot of flexibility, credit goes to Auburn's safeties -- Jermaine Whitehead, Ryan Smith and an injured Josh Holsey -- for being able to play multiple roles.

"I really don't care. I like moving around, playing different positions anyway," Smith said. "As a secondary, we've got three guys who can play safety and dime, so if we're on that side of the field, and that's how the formation is, we might just stay."

Auburn, obviously, gave up its fair share of yardage and explosive plays against a Texas A&M offense that has carved up every team it has faced this season.

But the next step for this defense, now that the Tigers have built an identity and started to settle into Johnson's scheme, is cutting down on the mistakes that created some of the Aggies' explosive plays on Saturday and other explosive plays from the first half of the season.

"Basically, knowing where your help is in run support and knowing where your help is also in the passing game, knowing where the safety is coming down and everything like that from a linebacker standpoint," Frost said. "We're all collectively coming together and really just focusing on what we have to do to eliminate them."